Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, consensus is defined as general or wide spread agreement. It does not mean full agreement with every opinion put forward by every Member or Minister. It does allow for respectful differences of opinion that are not insulting to other Members. It means exchanging ideas and opinions until the majority agrees, and consensus is achieved.
I believe that leadership must have the respect and support of the Members, but also that leadership must show respect, that same respect to the Ordinary Members. The leadership must be able to relate to a wide spectrum of people, and I believe the Cabinet that we elected two years ago has shown us they are able to do that.
What are the ongoing challenges before us as the 13th Assembly of the Government of the Northwest Territories? We know that the population is still growing rapidly. The demand on social programs is still increasing, and our economy is still not keeping up. We, as the elected leaders must continue to face these problems head on and together seek out ways to do things as efficiently as possible, providing the best results we can.
The spending cuts that have been made need to be examined carefully to measure their effect. As we know, the northern economy is fragile due to the governments large presence. So, isolated decision making in reducing spending can sometimes have the potential of costing more than the anticipated savings.
Mr. Chairman, I still find the social statistics facing this government to be staggering. The numbers, particularly in the areas of education, in some of the smaller communities, should not be acceptable to this government. We cannot grow immune or callous to some of these facts which face us.
Our population growth rate is still 2.0 times that of the national average. Our incarceration rate is still 2.7 times that of the national average and our suicide rate is still 2.6 times that of the national average. We must continue to address these issues and not lose sight of our goals. It is only through cooperation that we can do this. We have to take a united stand, to ensure that decisions of this government are fair and equitable to all people.
Mr. Chairman, I respect that we all have the best interests of our constituencies at heart, and I understand that these priorities and goals of individual Members will differ from time to time. We must guard against becoming so involved in governing, that we ever put the concerns of those constituents to a secondary place.
Mr. Chairman, as we move ahead and we build on the progress and accomplishments of the past two years, we must not loose sight of the fact that we are only here to humbly serve the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.